2016 Chronicle #4 - European Championships

This Chronicle focuses on the F-18 European Championships which are held whenever the world championships are not in Europe. This year the F-18 Worlds are in Argentina in October. They scheduled the Europeans to be immediately prior the Brest Week which is a huge festival similar to Kiel Week. Brest Week is only held every four years so it is very popular. The number of tall ships present was incredible. The format of the Europeans was six days of racing; three bouy races per day for the first four days, then two bouy races, followed by one long distance race the final day. All races count equally and you are allowed to discard your two worst races.

There were 50 boats racing representing 14 countries. We were the only boat from the US and there was one boat from Argentina. The strongest teams present were from Belgium, Netherlands and France.

We raced on a very large bay right where a river flows into the bay. Therefore, the waves were not as big as expected, but there was a lot of current almost always at ebb tide during the races. The tidal range was extreme at 15 feet. Because the wind was usually against the current it caused there to be a very steep wave chop ~ 2 feet high.

Here are race by race notes that we hope do not bore you.

Day #1; Race #1

Good start towards leeward end. Went left side but determined right side was favored due to less current and more wind pressure.

Finished 27th. Wind was13 ktks.

Race #2

One general recall; good start but rolled by one boat on start, good down wind speed; wind 15 kts with light spots. Finished 18th.

Race #3

Started far left with DG Netherlands (ultimately finished 3rd overall) boat that port tacked the fleet, were able to follow DG boat only ducking two sterns; excellent upwind boat speed, wind ~15 kts, rounded weather mark second place; lost boats on the first downwind leg but then held our own for rest of two lap race; finished 4th; One boat ahead of us was black flagged.

Ended day in 11th place

Day #2; Race #4

Got great start near pin end; went toward shore and tacked; large portion of fleet went right; we had better wind and got lifted a little inside the fleet; rounded the weather mark in 2nd; found out later that the leader was black flag DSQ; held second place for next entire lap; lost two boats shortly before the last gate turning mark so finished 3rd. Wind was 15 kts.

Race #5

Got worst start of regatta so far; were about last off the starting line & we were hoping for a general recall but it didn’t happen; wind was 14 – 18 kts; worked our way through the fleet and ended in 11th.

Race #6

Started towards pin again because left shift right before start; followed same strategy as race #4 towards shore and worked our way inside the fleet. Had good match with Magnus and also close to Finn/Merle for downwind leg. Finished in 9th. Wind up to 20 kts. At the end of the day, our 27th score thrown out so were in 10th place but scores are tight with still 10 races to go.

Steve & Matt leading the winning Belgium team around the windward off-set mark

Day 3 / Race #7

Light rain in the morning and colder.

Wind 13 – 15 kts started towards the pin end and went left. Turned out right was way favored so stuck in middle of the fleet at weather mark. Next beat went far right and made up on boats. Finished 20th but found out after race the we were black flagged DSQed. Boat speed was off the pace for this race. Diamonds set at 40.

For all the starts there was a very strong ebb current (heading out) pushing us across the line. They have a 15 foot tide here which causes a very strong current.

Race #8

Wind increased to 16 – 19 kts. Started about 1/3 away from pin end. Boat speed was very good and were in top 1/3 of fleet at weather mark. Dicey leeward gate rounding due to number of boats. Went right again on second beat but did not gain much. Finished 14th but found out after race the we were black flagged DSQed.

Race #9

Wind increased even more to 18 – 22 kts.

We had a clean start ¼ from the pin end and had great up wind boat speed. Rounded the weather mark around 10-12. Then had great downwind boat speed. On the second leg the photo boat ran along side us for about two minutes taking video of us surfing the waves. We finished 7th and were not BF DSQ!

There is a good video of the day three racing at: http://www.f18europeen.com/video/video-jour-3/

Day 4 / Race #10

Wind was in 15 to 20 kts range. Same current situation and wind direction. Decided to try a conservative start at committee boat to be able to tack right immediately after start. Had a great start and tacked but right side did not pay. Were able to catch boats with spinnaker sets and take downs, and downwind speed. Finished 20th Had diamonds set to 43.

Race #11

Did same start as previous race but did not tack right away but still played the right side more. Same results finished 20th.

Race #12

Changed strategy and went for the leeward 1/3 of starting line. Backed off on diamonds to 42 because we thought the wind would die a little (but it did not). Had good start and went left but most of fleet went right. This time right paid so on wrong side of course again. Had good downwind legs and gybing angles into the leeward gate. Also getting better at final dog leg to the finish line. Finished 17th.

Day 4 / Race #13

We had a poor second row start at the leeward end of the line but were heading in the favored direction. We were in the top tier of boats as we rounded the weather mark. We were the eight boat across the finish line but then found out three boats ahead of us were disqualified for premature starts so we placed 5th.

Race #14

Was almost a repeat of race 13 except we did not fare as well placing 13th. Overall Matt and I felt we were handling the boat and tactics coming into the leeward gate much better by this final bouy race. At the end of the bouy racing we were in 13th place overall.

Day #5 / Race #15 – Long Distance

Race course set at 25 nautical miles which means you would typically sail ~ 35 miles due to tacking upwind and downwind gybing. First leg was upwind and very short startboard tack rounding. Our strategy was for a leeward end start and to go to the port tack layline. We were executing the start almost perfectly when a port tack boat fouled us at the pin end. My major concern was to avoid major damage to our boat. Once we were clear of the fouling boat we headed up the course. We rounded the first mark in about 15th place and were heading up river to a mark past two bridges. Underneath the bridges there was no wind and as we struggled to maintain our position as the rest of the fleet drove in on us and were able to see that the best place for wind was the right side under the bridge. By the time we emerged from this debacle we rounded the mark in close to last place. Then we had a very long double trapeze reaching leg probably 5 miles long with the wind blowing 18 to 23 knots very gustily. Matt had a real challenge keeping the boat going and upright. Several boats capsized on this leg and we gladly flew by them. We had to pass two large yachts as we headed to the turning mark to round in front of them. Then we had an 8 mile downwind leg that was tremendous fun surfing the 2-3 foot waves.

The rest of the race was a challenge to know the course and figure out the current and wind shears. Bottom line is we did not do too well and finished 28th. We were both exhausted after the race but then had to participate in a parade of the F-18 fleet through the Brest Harbor below the ancient castle. There was a crowd of thousands lining the waterfront applauding us having completed the championship series.

Tourist Activities

In addition to the sailing we had some time to explore the city of Brest. We discovered the WWII submarine bunkers used by the Germans on the French Naval base. Afterwards when we were visiting my uncle in Germany we found out that he was part of the German force that surrendered to the Allies on Sept 18, 1944. He was a German medic who evacuated their wounded into the U-boat bunkers for safety. He was then taken as a POW to England.

On our drive back towards Germany we stopped for two nights in Normandy and spent one day exploring the historic sites of the D-Day landings on June 6, 1944.

Matt contemplating losses of WW II at Normandy Beach American Cemetery

Traveling Intermission

We are taking four days of rest in Zweibrucken, Germany to visit Steve’s relatives, do laundry, catch up on e-mails and send out this chronical. We leave on July 20 for Basel Switzerland on our way to our next event.

Next Event – Nacra World Championships, Como Lake, Italy, July 23 - 27

Our next event is at one of the best sailing venues in Europe: Como Lake. This is an event only open to Nacra brand catamarans and will include several classes of Nacra including the F-18 and F-20 Carbon. It will be a smaller event with around 17 – 20 F-18’s racing but one of the participants is the current F-18 World Champion Gunnar Larsen (two years in a row).

We are looking forward to racing on fresh water, no waves and moderate winds!

Stay tuned for the next Chronicle after the Nacra Worlds are complete.

Steve and Matt